


Winged Cupid Painted Blind

by Lapin



Series: Shakespeare in Love [3]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Christmas, M/M, Meeting the Parents, Modern AU, The Disaster Trio
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21721573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lapin/pseuds/Lapin
Summary: For Vas, things are finally going his way. Him and Josh are together, and happy, enough so that Josh has invited him home for Christmas.But the course of true love might still have some obstacles for them.
Relationships: Goodnight Robicheaux/Billy Rocks, Joshua Faraday & Red Harvest, Joshua Faraday/Vasquez, Red Harvest/Teddy Q, Vasquez & Red Harvest
Series: Shakespeare in Love [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562965
Comments: 11
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Christmas fic!

Vas loves his mother. There’s no disputing that. He loves his sisters, even though his own history with them probably gives him more than enough reasons to prove why he shouldn’t. 

It’s just that sometimes, he misses his father. They hadn’t exactly had much in common, personality wise, Vas more like his mother than he wants to admit some days, but they’d had a tight bond borne of being the only two men in a family full of women. Even outside of their core family, his mother was one of three girls, who had then proceeded to have all girls, and while his father only had one sister, she’d had four daughters. 

Well, there had been Hannah, back when she was called Emilio. But she had started going by Hannah when Vas was twelve, and it wasn’t like she’d been interested in anything traditionally boyish beforehand. 

And of course, she’s right there in it now.

‘It’ being getting on Vas’ one last fucking nerve. 

“Hannah,” his mother shouts, on her end of the phone. “Tell your cousin he’s supposed to bring my future son home for Christmas!” She has him on speakerphone. Because of course she does. “Hey! Hey, Angela, I see you over there! Don’t think you’re sneaking out, get your ass back in the living room and help -” She starts yelling at his sisters in Spanish, and he hears the phone hand off. 

“What the hell are you thinking?” His sister Lucia asks. “You can’t not bring Josh home now that you finally found your balls and asked him out for real. I had to bring Teresa home that first Christmas. And she was looking forward to Josh being here.” Teresa is his sister’s wife. Since she’s about seven months pregnant right now, Vas doubts she’s looking forward to anything except not being pregnant anymore. 

Hannah chimes in. “And I’m tired of being the one your mom always asks for help. You’re both tall. You can hang the fucking lights.” 

Vas rolls his eyes and prays for strength. He loves his family. He does. But there’s just so many of them, and they never stop fucking talking. Even with these two getting after him, he can hear everyone else in the background, getting the house ready. Or yelling at each other. “Josh is an only child.” He’s already said this, but he’ll probably be saying it until he dies anyway. “He only came home with me last year because his mom and her friend decided to go to Vegas for Christmas.” 

Apparently, Josh’s mom is just as tight with Red’s mom as Red and Josh are. Which makes sense, considering they basically bonded on the battlefield that was raising those two. Josh downplays it, but some of the stories he tells about just what him and Red had gotten up to growing up are insane. 

“So stay there for Christmas and come home for New Years,” Hannah says. “I’m not listening to this shit the whole break, Guillermo. I’m already in trouble because Luiz is in California with his family.” That would be Hannah’s long-term partner. 

“No, you’re in trouble because you’re still not married.” That sounds like Angie, but he’s not sure. His sisters tend to sound alike over the phone. “Hey, Guillermo, did Hannah tell you that Luiz proposed?” Hannah shouts something that might be ‘shut the fuck up you little goblin’, but Vas isn’t really listening at this point. “And she said _no_. Because they’re ‘not ready’.”

“You’ve been with him for eight fucking years, how much more ready do you need to be?” Lucia asks. “You need to get married and start bringing home some babies, already.”

“Yeah, I’ll pick one up at the mall next week,” Hannah replies. “You’re really going to spend the whole break there?” 

Something about the way she says _there_ gets Vas’ hackles up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Doesn’t his mom live in a trailer park?” 

“Don’t be a bitch,” Angie pipes up. 

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Hannah says hotly. “All I’m saying is that maybe Josh’s mom doesn’t exactly want another grown man loafing around an already small space the whole break, eating her food. ‘Cause you eat a lot, Guillermo. And so does Josh, and his hot friend.” 

“Red has a name,” Vas points out.

“Yeah, it’s ‘Josh’s hot friend’.” 

Lucia says something he doesn’t catch to Angie, then says to Vas, “Hannah has a point. You’re sure his mom is cool with this? I thought you hadn’t even met her yet?” 

That’s unfortunately true. For some reason or another, Vas has never had a chance to meet Molly Faraday. She’s never come to the campus, and Vas has never gone to Josh’s home. He’s seen pictures; Josh has a ton of them stuck in the mirror over his dresser, and even a few on the fridge. They’re mostly of Josh and Red, Red usually flipping off the camera or blocking his face, but there’s plenty of Josh and his mom too, and their home. There’s even some of Billy and Goody, newer than the others. But Vas has never so much as spoken to Molly.

He loves Josh though; they might not be there yet, the saying it part, but he knows how he feels. And he thinks Josh will get there, too. So Molly has to like him based on that alone. 

“She’s Josh’s mom,” he says. “If he’s anything like her, I don’t think she even cares. He says Christmas isn’t a big deal at their house.” 

And if Vas is honest, he’s looking forward to that. Christmas is a big production at his house. There’s all the food to make, the whole house to clean, schedules to coordinate, and not to mention all the squabbling that happens whenever too many members of his family get together in one space. Josh and his mom aren’t even religious, which means Vas gets to skip church without being made to feel guilty about it. 

A low-key holiday, for once in his life, sounds like a much-needed vacation. 

On the other end of the phone, Lucia snorts. “Yeah, we gathered that when Josh didn’t even know what the hell Midnight Mass was.” 

“He still went,” Vas reminds her. Granted, he’d had to ask Vas what people were supposed to do at church, but he’d gotten through it pretty well considering they went to the Spanish service. All Josh knew how to do in Spanish was curse. And not well. “It’ll be fine.”

“Before or after Mom kills you?” Angie asks. 

“It’s one Christmas,” Vas groans. 

“And next year, if you’re still with Josh?” 

That’s a bit mean-spirited, even for Lucia. “Don’t say that.” 

“Oh my god, when did you get so sensitive?” she whines. “I’m saying it with the thought that you likely will be, okay? Which is why it’s an issue. Are we going to be doing a back and forth thing, day of? Are we going to be exchanging you on holidays? What about Thanksgiving?” 

Vas shrugs. “Josh and his mom don’t do Thanksgiving. Not really.” According to Josh, his mom almost always had to work on Thanksgiving when he was growing up, and by the time Josh was a teenager, he’d had to work too. 

That was one of those things Vas had just nodded along with, but hadn’t really understood. His own mother, who was a pediatric surgeon, had already been lauded in her field for as long as he could remember, and his father had been an electrical engineer. His parents would never even have dreamed of working on the holidays. And while he’d wanted to get a job when he was a teenager, his parents would never have allowed it. It would have interfered with school, and that wasn’t done in their household. 

But from what he understood, Josh hadn’t been working for extra spending money anyway. Instead, he’d been helping his mom pay the bills as soon as he could. 

“Well, what about Easter?” Lucia asks.

“Easter is a thing with them,” Vas says. Not a traditional Easter, or at least not one he’s ever heard of. Apparently, Goody and Billy go out there, and do all the cooking. From the pictures, it looks like their Easter dinner for them is a whole lot of Korean barbecue and playing basketball. 

Again, considering what Vas’ has always known Easter to be, it sounds great.

Lucia groans. “Well, you can tell Mom that.” On their end, he hears some shuffling around, and the faucet running, before the phone goes off speaker, and it’s just Lucia. “Guillermo, I’m not trying to be That Asshole here, but are you _sure_ his mom is okay with this?” 

“Why wouldn’t she be? Josh has invited me there before.” 

“But did she?” The background goes quiet, as Lucia must be stepping out onto the patio. He can hear the sliding door open and shut. “Not everyone is like our family. I can’t even remember how we’re related to some of the people that show up.” Neither can he, for that matter. “And Josh said she works a lot. She might not be comfortable with having a stranger in her home during one of the only times she still gets time with her son.” She sighs. “Plus, there’s the thing you are willfully ignoring.”

Vas hadn’t considered that first thing. He doesn’t know what else there could be. “What?”

“The thing Hannah was too polite to say,” Lucia explains. “We’re from seriously different tax brackets, Guillermo. And it shows. Josh is too dumb to notice, bless his heart, but his mom definitely will. It might make her really uncomfortable to have you there for a holiday.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“You’ve got shoes that probably cost more than her monthly rent. Trust me, when you’re down on that rung of the income ladder, you notice that shit.” Vas thinks she’s making a big deal out of nothing, but she keeps talking. “Teresa was really uncomfortable herself those first couple of years coming to our house. She didn’t even want me to come to hers, because she knew her mom and dad would be embarrassed. Hell, I don’t even want Mom coming over to our place these days.”

“You’re not exactly poor,” Vas says. 

“But we’re struggling, and it shows. This baby was expensive to get. We were lucky to have a friend volunteer, and that he was willing to sign the legal stuff without a fight, because we never could have afforded to go through the more formal routes.” Yeah, Vas isn’t really interested in the finer details of that process, and hearing that his sister is struggling is hard on its own. “I’m just saying, Josh’s mom might not even be able to afford to feed another mouth. Which is what Hannah was trying to hint at, dumbass.” 

That’s...not something Vas ever would have even thought of. That’s never been an issue in his house. “Josh would have thought of it.” Josh is kind of lost in doing his own thing most of the time, but he’s protective of his mom. He wouldn’t put her in an awkward situation. “It’ll be fine, Lucia. And I have to meet her eventually. We’re together now.”

“Alright,” she says. “I mean, you do. Have to meet her, I mean. I’m just trying to help you out here so you can stay together. Mom really likes Josh. Like, a lot. Whoever you brought home after him would be screwed. Be like when Teresa and me broke up, you remember, a couple of years back? And I brought that girl, Megan?”

“No one liked that girl,” Vas says. 

“You didn’t like her because she wasn’t Teresa,” Lucia says, which might be true. By that point, Teresa was already a fixture in the family, and their break-up had been stupid anyway. “Everyone’s attached to Josh. You fuck it up, Mom will never forgive you.” 

“She has to, I’m her only son.”

“You _were_ her only son, and then you brought home Josh.” 

He can hear the sliding door open on her end, and another one of his sisters yelling in the background. “Lucia,” he hears his mother say, “Give me your brother back, before I kill one of them.” 

“You know what, never mind, I might go with you instead,” Lucia says, before passing the phone back. He can hear her joining the shouting a second later, switching to Spanish, with, “Knock it off, you little demons! Teresa is trying to lie down!” 

His mother is muttering a prayer in Spanish. “Only have one child, Guillermo. They’re cute when they’re little, that’s how they trick you into wanting more. Don’t fall for it.”

Since neither he, nor Josh, are capable of getting pregnant by accident, he’s not too worried, but he makes an agreeing noise to placate her. On his own end, the front door opens, and Josh and Red come in, trailed by Goody and Billy. “Alright, I gotta go. I love you. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?” 

“If I’m not in prison,” she swears, then tells him she loves him too, and hangs up. 

In the entryway, it looks like Josh and Red are fighting about something. Or playing. Vas is never sure with them. Either way, while he watches, Red grabs Josh and yanks him into a headlock before punching him in the chest. 

“House rules!” Josh yells. “We’re in the house, no hitting!” 

“Since when was that a rule?” Vas asks, looking over the back of the couch as Red releases Josh. 

“Since we’re going home for the holidays,” Goody explains, sitting on the back of the couch. “There’s no fighting in Molly or Poppy’s houses. There ain’t room for it. So they’ve all got to get themselves into a more civilized mindset. Or face the consequences,” he finishes very dramatically, waggling his eyebrows. 

Josh leans over and kisses Vas upside down. “Yeah, my mom will kill us. Or Auntie will. Whichever. Personally, I’d lean towards my mom. She’d do it with mercy. Ms. Poppy doesn’t know the meaning of that word.” 

“She does. It means ‘weak’,” Red says, walking by on the way to the kitchen. 

“Even I know that’s not what that means,” Josh drawls. “‘Sides, you should be praying she learns a new definition, anyway. What with her being not-too-happy with you.” Red just holds up a middle finger over his shoulder, and keeps walking. 

“Why’s his mother mad at him?” Vas asks. 

“Oh, see, I just happened to mention Suzy Q to her, and what do you know? Red there hadn’t told his own mother about his boyfriend,” Josh says, jumping over the couch so he can sit by Vas. “She was very disappointed in him, and I can’t disagree. Keeping secrets from your own mother, Red, for shame.” 

Vas checks on Red, but he’s in the kitchen. The house is old though, so he definitely heard. “Josh, why do you have to poke that bear all the time?” 

“If I didn’t tell his mom shit, she’d never know anything,” Josh defends himself easily. “I’m doing my civic duty as her honorary son.” 

Vas stares at him, but over Josh’s shoulder, Billy agreeably shrugs, so he lets it go. He’s found it’s easier to just stay out of Josh and Red’s relationship anyway. Last time he let himself get too curious, he nearly screwed himself over. 

So, best to just let this go. “Is he coming?”

“Who?” 

“Teddy. Is he coming to Christmas?” He’s not much, but if he’s there, at least Vas won’t be the only new person. 

Goody answers that. “I don’t know that he’d be interested. Teddy is a bird of a different feather,” he says. 

After a beat, where Vas, nor Josh it seems, can figure out what the hell that means, Billy clarifies. “He’s Jewish.”

“He is?” Josh looks around at Goody now. “Huh. Yeah, they don’t do Christmas, do they?” 

“No, they do not,” Goody says. “Not that you and yours do much in the way of observance, either.” 

“Fair enough,” Josh says. “Don’t see you two adding anything all that holy, though.”

Goody sits down on the arm of the armchair that Billy’s claimed, his feet on the coffee table, sans shoes, which is the only reason Vas doesn’t say anything. “I consider myself a theist, at best, which means that while I’m fine with the traditions of Christmas, I don’t see much reason to take part in the more devout parts. And Billy here has his own culture and observances.” 

“You do?”

“Yes,” Billy says, not looking up from his phone, but moving forward a little when Goody starts rubbing the back of his neck. “Not caring.” 

Josh laughs, but then turns back to Vas. “Hey, meant to ask about that. Are you gonna want to go to church, or something? We got churches, but I don’t know anything about any of them. Well, except that one we egged, ‘cause they were doing this lame anti-Halloween dance. We’re still banned from the property.” 

That story doesn’t surprise Vas in the slightest, so he doesn’t even ask, but as Red comes back in, eating an apple, Goody asks, “Red, tell me, is there anything in your town that you and Josh here did not vandalize at some point in time?” 

Red shrugs. “Graveyard?”

“Nah, man, junior year, remember?” 

It looks like Red has to think about it for a second, but then he nods. 

“I’m choosing not to ask, on account of I don’t want to know,” Goody says. “I’d blame your parentage, but Molly, Poppy, and Joe, are all perfectly respectable people.” That must be Red’s father. “In any case, if you’re looking to attend church, Vas, I have no issue going with you. Joshua here might burst into flame if he steps over the threshold.” 

Josh just shrugs it off, leaning back so he’s against Vas. That’s something Vas is only too happy to do, so he shifts himself so Josh can be more comfortable there. “I only go to church for my mother,” he tells Goody. “It’s not really my thing.” 

“Well, offer will still stand if you change your mind,” Goody says. “So, Red, is Teddy Q going to grace us with his company this break, or not?” 

Without saying anything, Red turns and walks back to his room. 

Goody sighs, and asks, “And what does that mean, Josh?”

“That means Ms. Poppy made him invite Teddy,” Josh explains, rubbing his head and then settling back down. “Did not consider that when I told her, but hey, least Ms. Poppy and my mom will have another target, other than you, Vas.” 

“What’s that mean?” Vas asks. 

“Just a joke, babe.” 

For Josh, it probably is, but Vas is still thinking about it a few days later, after classes have finally finished and he’s throwing stuff in the car with Red. It’s freezing out, even through two shirts and a hoodie, but Red is still only in a sleeveless shirt. Vas will never understand him. “How are you not cold?”

“We’re moving,” Red answers. 

That’s probably all Vas is going to get out of him on that subject, so he lets it go. “So, what’s Josh’s mom like? Really?”

“She’s Molly.” That’s about as helpful as he should have expected. 

The thing about Red is, if you can get him stuck in a situation, like this one, and keep bothering him, he’ll eventually talk. “Could you act like a normal person, for, I don’t know, a minute?” Red doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t leave either, so he’s not annoyed. “I know she’s important to Josh. I don’t want to screw this up.” Red still doesn’t say anything. “I know she’s important to you too, asshole.” 

There’s the right leverage. Vas knew he would find it eventually. “Lot like Josh. More level-headed, I guess. Works a lot. Doesn’t cook.” He hefts another bag up, lifting it with one arm, which kind of pisses Vas off. He’d struggled to get that one out here. Maybe he should start making more time for the gym. “Neither of our moms do.” 

“And, uh,” this is awkward, but Vas knows he needs to ask. “What about his father?”

Red makes a noise, and shoves the heavy bag in harder. “Asshole. Never paid child support. He stopped coming around when we were thirteen. I think he’s still in prison.” That bag in, Red grabs the one he’s got some of his own computer stuff in. “Molly doesn’t care anymore, Josh wants him dead. Don’t bring him up.” 

Vas wasn’t planning on it. Josh has never talked about his father, and Vas had been able to figure out on his own that Josh wasn’t harboring any affection towards the man. He just hadn’t wanted to go in blind, and possibly trigger something by saying something careless. “Anything else?”

“Molly’s parents kicked her out when she got pregnant,” Red continues. “She was really young. Her and my mom are the same age. So they’re not around either. It was just her and Josh until we moved in.” 

That brings up another question, one Vas doesn’t know if he can ask. It’s not that Red is closed-off, not exactly. He just doesn’t volunteer information about himself unless he feels like it. And Vas doesn’t want Red to think he’s being nosy for nosiness’ sake. That _will_ close him off. But he’s been in an easier mood as of late; some of that seems to be because of Teddy, and some of it might just be because he’s finally decided Vas is going to be a permanent fixture in his own life as well as Josh’s.

So he asks. “How did you and Josh become friends?” 

“When we left the reservation, my dad was already sick. Molly helped out. Didn’t have a reason, she’s just like that. And she was the only person who would talk to us, for awhile.” He sits down on the bumper of the car, looking at Vas. “People in town don’t like the reservation. Don’t like any of us. We were the only non-white people in the neighborhood, pretty much, back then. Molly was already an outcast. She didn’t care. Josh didn’t either. Me and him liked the same stuff, and hated the same assholes.” 

Vas can relate to that. He’d grown up in a mostly-Hispanic neighborhood, and he hadn’t been exposed to much of what the world had to spit at him until he started middle school. He’d gone from being just one more kid, to one of only maybe two dozen Hispanic kids, and the other kids had made sure he knew that. It had gotten old quick. He’d of liked a friend like what Josh had been to Red. 

“You and Molly are close, too?”

“She’s like another mom,” Red says, then adds, “And my mom is like another mom to Josh.” 

“And your dad?”

“Enabler.” 

“I figured it had to be someone.” There’s a reason the two of them managed to make it to adulthood mostly unscathed. He’s always been a little curious about Red’s parents, admittedly. “What are your parents like?” 

“Parents.” That seems to be enough of an answer for him, but that’s because his phone has gone off, and he’s more interested in that than Vas. 

Vas rolls his eyes when he looks over Red’s shoulder and sees what it is; Teddy’s sent a picture of what looks like some kind of insane person’s murder board, captioned, _I told you._ “What did he tell you?” 

“His parents are hippies,” Red explains. “The weird kind.” 

“You know you have to meet them, right?” 

Red just shrugs. “Already met his mom. She’s alright.” 

That’s a surprise to Vas. “When did that happen?”

“Her and Emma’s mom came down to see them. Teddy asked if I wanted to meet her.” He types out a message Vas doesn’t catch, then puts his phone away. “They’re all lawyers. It was okay. She liked me. I think.” He stands up straight, and pulls the hatch shut. “You’ll be fine. Won’t be just us, and Molly probably won’t care anyway.”

“What do you mean?” 

He really doesn’t like the face Red makes. “You’re different.”

“From what?”

“Us.” He locks the hatch and hooks the keys onto their chain. “You don’t have a record. Not a real one. You’re from a ‘good family’. You have a degree. Got a career waiting for you.” Nothing he’s saying is bad, or at least Vas never thought it was, but the way Red says it is weird. “You’re better than what she probably expected. She’s not going to make anything of it.” 

From some reason, Vas feels the need to justify himself. “I care about Josh.”

“Never said you didn’t.” 

“Then what are you saying?” 

Red shakes his head, and steps back, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Don’t take it the wrong way. I’m not saying she won’t like you. But you’re different from us. She’s going to notice that.” And Red being Red, he apparently decides that’s all he’s going to say on that matter, because he heads back into the house. 

“Yeah, talk to Red, real smart,” Vas says to himself, following him after a minute. “That’s always a fun time.” 

Inside, Josh is finishing up in his bedroom, stuffing a couple more shirts in. “Car’s ready,” Vas says. 

“Awesome,” Josh mutters, zipping the duffle bag shut. “Looking forward to having two cars. Billy should not be allowed to drive.” That’s a big part of why Vas volunteered to drive, so he doesn’t argue. He doesn’t know much about South Korea, but he’s pretty sure Billy would be categorized as a bad driver there too, no matter what he says. “You mind if we go to the grocery store after we get there? My mom texted, told me to get some supplies.” 

That reminds Vas of what Lucia said, so he says, “I don’t mind paying for some stuff, you know.” 

“I’d argue, and so would my mom, but I swear to god, I can feel Ms. Poppy telling me to shut the fuck up even from here.” He scratches the back of his head. “Still time to change your mind, you know, head over to your family’s. I know your mom is probably missing you.”

“If I hadn’t told her I wasn’t coming, she wouldn’t notice,” Vas says. “All my cousins are already in and out of the house by now.” 

“Not gonna lie, still don’t know all of them,” Josh says. “You’re getting off way too easy with my family.” 

Vas sits on the bed, and reaches out, pulling Josh closer. Being able to do this whenever he wants is still kind of new, but the motion is familiar enough, and Josh goes along with it, smiling down at him. “Least your mom won’t make a big deal out of sharing a room.” 

“Dude, your mom was all about us sharing a room.” 

“Yeah, Josh, that’s because she was trying to force it,” Vas points out. His mom had meant well, but Vas considered himself lucky that Josh could be kind of dense about some things. She had not been subtle. “This is going to be fun. Low-key holiday, just us, and our friends. No big obligations, no drama, no children waking us up at six in the morning.”

Josh scoffs, combing his fingers through Vas’ hair. He always loves when Josh does it, so Vas tips his head forward into it. “Man, I wasn’t even into doing that when I was a kid. Christmas break is for sleeping in. It’s one of the only days my mom had off too, so I never wanted to get her up.” 

“That’s sweet.”

“No, it’s self-preservation.” He gets his nails into Vas’ scalp, so Vas doesn’t say anything just yet, just lets Josh talk. “Mom was mostly working shitty retail jobs when I was a kid, so by the time Christmas rolled around, she was already sick of it. Not like, being a Grinch, or nothing, she was just tired. Retail will do that to you.” 

“What’s your mom do now?” He’s never asked, he realized. He should have. 

“She works for Red’s grandfather. Handles payroll, scheduling, all that shit. Still does some seasonal stuff during this time of year, but it’s usually just filling in for people at the mill.” 

“The mill?”

“Yeah, the lumber mill.” Vas thinks he should have been able to guess that on his own, but he’s distracted. “It’s where most people end up, back home. The mill, or prison.” He leans down, and pushes Vas’ hair back, kissing him. “Or rehab. Lot of meth and shit floating around the mill.” 

Vas smiles, but he’s not feeling it. Weed is one thing, but he’s never really been around any kind of harder drug use, and he’s a little thrown still by how casually Josh, and even Red, talk about it. Neither of them seem bothered by it, but Vas hadn’t grown up around that kind of thing, much less discussion of it. 

It’s getting late in the day, and packing had taken more out of Vas than he expected, so he lets Josh handle dinner. They’ve already cleaned out the perishables in the house, so that means ordering in. While they’re waiting, Vas ends up dozing off in Josh’s bed, only waking up when Josh comes back up and shakes him. 

Him and Josh have started sharing a room, not really by design. They each still have their own bedroom in the upstairs, but more nights than not these days, Josh is in Vas’ room. It just makes sense, practicality wise. Vas has the bigger room, and his is against the outside wall, not the shared one. Their neighbors, Missy and Loretta, while otherwise nice enough women, have what could be charitably called a passionate relationship. Josh just calls it a trainwreck. Either way, sharing a bedroom wall with them isn’t fun. 

It works out for Vas. He wanted Josh to stay over more when they were just sleeping together; he wouldn’t mind if they were just in one room altogether now. But he hasn’t brought it up, not wanting to rush Josh into it. And it _is_ rushing. Vas isn’t stupid enough to let the initial endorphin rush of being together with Josh hurry them into something they’re not ready for. It’s good to each have their own space still, while they’re working their way through settling into this relationship. 

He still misses Josh when he sleeps in his own room, though. 

“Billy and Goody don’t mind being on the couch for a week?” He’s sitting in bed now, watching Josh change into pajamas. 

Josh shakes his head. “Nah. It’s a foldout, and it’s just my mom and me, so it’s not like they’re in anyone’s way. Back porch is closed in now, so we all just hang out out there anyway. Mom doesn’t let anyone smoke in the house anymore. And they’re both short.” 

“Don’t say that where Goody can hear you,” Vas reminds him. Anytime they do, Goody is quick to point out that him and Billy are average; it’s the rest of them that are tall. Either way, Vas can see over his head. “Anything I should know before I get there?”

“Can’t think of anything,” Josh says, climbing into bed beside him. “Don’t worry about it.” 

But Vas is worrying about it now. He wants Josh’s mom to like him. He kind of needs her to. She’s Josh’s only parent. He doesn’t think Josh will break up with him if she doesn’t like him right away, but he doesn’t think Josh will stay with him if she never warms up to him. 

This is probably him making a thing about nothing, honestly. He’s never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend whose parents disliked him. He’s polite, he’s motivated, he’s respectful of his partners. All good things. Granted, he’s never dated anyone white before, but Josh’s mom is so close with Red’s family, he can’t see that being a problem either. 

This just has a foreboding feeling attached to it, and he can’t pinpoint why. 

Maybe it’s because he’s older now, and he already knows he’d like this to be a long-term thing with Josh. They’re the right ages to be thinking about their futures. Vas would like his future to contain Josh. He thinks Josh feels the same way, or could, if he doesn’t. They feel right together. 

He rolls over onto his side, facing away from Josh, and watching the streetlights playing across the wall. He shouldn’t be letting this get to him. This is his sister and the rest of them, getting into his head and making him paranoid. Molly will like him, and this will all be fine. 

The next morning, they head out around nine, Vas driving, Josh in the passenger seat. Red sits in the back, earbuds in, so it’s more like just them. There’s not much to talk about, this early in the morning, Vas concentrating on the road, the ice and the other drivers more than enough to keep his head busy, while Josh looks at something on his phone for awhile. 

Josh’s hometown isn’t far from campus; Vas has always known that. It’s only an hour, even with some traffic. But Josh and Red don’t go home much, since neither has a car of their own, and their parents don’t come visit either. Work, Vas assumes. 

Even though it’s not far, though, it’s hard not to notice how the landscape changes the closer they get. There’s less and less to see except trees, and what there is, is clearly old. They stop at a gas station just inside the town limits, and while Vas fills up, he can’t help but see how rundown the station is. Again, he blames his sister, and his cousin too. Would he even feel as aware of it if they hadn’t put that shit into his head?

He can see what must be the lumber mill even from here, a huge crane stretching up above the trees, and they pass the huge entrance on the way to Josh’s house. The parking lot is just dirt and gravel, but full of cars and trucks, the mill loud even from the road. 

Vas can’t really picture Josh working in a mill. Or Red, for that matter. They’re both so smart. But then again, there’s probably plenty of people just as smart working there now. 

“Turn here,” Josh says, when they come up on another gravel road off to the side, a large sign on the corner reading _Iron River Park_. It’s all mobile homes, though Vas has never really understood that term. These are all permanent structures, with porches and flower beds, most with carports over their individual driveways. 

They have to go a bit in, the roads numbered instead of named, until they finally hit the last one, coming just up on the treeline. Josh directs Vas to park on the roadside beside one, and finally, they’re here. It might not be a long drive, but Vas is too tall to be able to stand being stuck in a vehicle too long. 

There’s a man coming out the front door in the place across from them, the screen door banging shut as he comes down the steps. He walks right up to Red, and the two of them embrace, before he moves to Josh. He’s Red’s father, Vas realizes, when Josh says, “Hey, Joe.” 

“You made good time?” he asks. 

“Yeah, Vas is a good driver,” Josh says agreeably, and the man moves on to Vas. 

He’s as tall as Red, but he stoops a little. Skinnier than any of them, and the older-than-his-years look some people get, but Vas remembers Josh and Red both mentioning he’d suffered a long illness of some kind. He wears his hair long, like Red’s, but there’s a lot of grey streaked through his braid. There’s an easy-goingness to him too that Red lacks, and he holds out a hand now for Vas to shake. “Joe North,” he introduces himself. 

“Guillermo Vasquez,” Vas says. “You can call me Vas.” It’s a nickname his mother has never liked much, but ‘Guillermo’ is a bit of a mouthful, and it’s hard for a lot of people to pronounce correctly. He’s not interested in Anglicizing it to ‘Will’, but ‘Vas’ has always fit him pretty well. 

“Good thing, ‘cause I don’t think I can say that first one right,” Joe says. “Don’t know where Red got his language thing, but it sure as hell wasn’t from me.” 

“‘Language thing’?” Vas doesn’t know what he means by that. 

“Speaking all those languages, and shit,” Josh answers, pulling one of his bags out of the back seat. “What do you speak, like five?” 

“Four,” Red corrects. “English, Spanish, German, and French.” 

This is news to Vas. “You speak Spanish?”

“ _You didn’t ask_ ,” Red replies in Spanish, shouldering his duffle and headed across the street. 

“Didn’t think I had to,” Vas says to his back. “Motherfucker. Josh, why didn’t you tell me that?” 

Josh shrugs, grinning. “What’ve you been saying in Spanish, Vas?” 

Nothing he wanted Josh or Red to hear. “Shut up.”

Joe, still standing there, just rolls his eyes. “One day, that boy is going to piss off the wrong person.” 

“Real easy to do, considering he pisses everyone off,” Josh says. “My mom and Poppy tell you when they’re getting home?” 

“Shift ends at three,” Joe says. “Gives you some time to get settled. Molly said you were going to do a grocery run?”

Josh looks at Vas. “You still up for that?” He doesn’t really want to, but he already said he would, and they’ve got to eat, so he nods. “Alright, yeah, we’ll head out in a little bit. Poppy give you a list, or do you want to come?” 

“She wrote a list. Weather’s not doing me any favors. Practically been on bed rest.” 

It’s a very noticeable change, how Josh is shifting from the way he usually acts to a side of him Vas has only seen in glimpses with Red, or sometimes himself. Quieter, but more protective, almost. It’s a little odd, since Joe is an adult, and a parent, but again, Vas reminds himself that Joe had been ill for a long time. “I can head down to the corner store now if you need something. And don’t say ‘cigarettes’, I know Poppy won’t let you have ‘em.”

“And I still miss them,” Joe says. “I’m alright. Poppy and your mom been fussing enough. Can just ask Red if I do. Lord knows he’s going to be looking for an escape route. Poppy’s been talking my ear off about this boyfriend of his.” He looks over his shoulder at the house, then back at them. “The boyfriend is real, right? He’s an actual person, not a Gameboy, or something?” 

“Nah, Teddy Q. is real.”

“People actually call him that?” Joe looks skeptical. “Well, it’s something.” He hugs Josh again, then nods at Vas, and goes back to his own house. This time, Vas notices that he struggles a little just to climb the four steps of the porch, holding the hand rail tight. 

He doesn’t say anything about it though, just helps Josh finish unpacking the car and getting everything inside Josh’s own house. 

It’s small, but the morning light is coming through the window over the kitchen sink, and the sliding door that must lead to the closed-in porch Josh had mentioned. The living room is almost entirely taken up by an old leather sectional and a TV stand, the kitchen, just a galley, directly across from it, the couch almost touching the countertop. There’s an old wooden table, just big enough for three people, shoved against the wall of what passes for a dining area, and going off from this, the main part, are two hallways that must lead to the two different bedrooms. 

He follows Josh to the right, trying not to hit the bags against the walls of the narrow hallway, where there are pictures hanging, mostly of Josh and Red over the years, looks like. Josh’s bedroom is at the end of the hall, and like the living room and kitchen, it’s small, smaller than their rooms back at the house even. Josh’s bed takes up most of the space, the rest of it filled with a dresser, and shelves built into the wood-panelled walls, mostly full of old paperbacks, the spines cracked so much that Vas can’t even read the titles. 

Josh throws his bag down on the floor, and sets the one with his laptop in it on the dresser, Vas following suit. There’s nowhere else to really put anything. “Bathroom is down there,” Josh says, sitting down on the bed and falling back. “Feels like I didn’t sleep at all last night. Had this weird dream about jaguars, and peacocks.” 

“Peacocks?” Vas asks, kicking off his shoes and getting in the bed with Josh. He feels like he didn’t sleep either, but it didn’t have anything to do with peacocks or jaguars. 

“Yeah, I was like, taking care of peacocks? And one got into the pen next to them, but there were all these jaguars sleeping in it. So I had to get the bird out, and then I couldn’t figure out how to get back out of the jaguar pen, so I’m running around with this stupid bird, trying to get out before they eat us. What the fuck do you think that means?” 

Vas has no idea, so he just shakes his head. “Does Red really speak Spanish?”

“Honestly, babe, thought you knew. Sorry. Don’t really think about it most of the time.” That tracks with Josh, and Vas is more annoyed with Red than anyone. Vas swears the guy does shit like that solely to fuck with people. “I’m gonna take a nap, then we’ll go to the store, alright? Billy and Goody will be here by then. They’ll let themselves in.” 

That means there’s no reason for Vas not to lie down himself. 

It’s small, that’s true, but a house is a house, and a bed is a bed. And now that the initial part of the trip is over, it’s a little easier to relax. Or maybe he’s just that tired. Either way, he’s asleep in less than a minute.


	2. Chapter 2

Vas wakes up when he hears a door slam. 

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he sits up and tries to orient himself. The sun has changed enough that the bedroom is a little darker, so it takes him a minute, stretching out and cracking his back in the process. 

After he’s a bit more alert, he can hear Josh down the hall, talking, and then Goody laughing. If they’re here already, Vas has been asleep longer than he thought. He checks his phone, and yeah, he’s been out for a good two hours. Damn, he definitely needs to get up then. 

He stops in the bathroom first, washing his face and checking his hair. Like the rest of the place, it’s small, Vas barely fitting inside. It’s clean though, cleaner than the bathrooms would be at home. His sisters can say what they want about him being vain, but they’re the ones who leave three dozen hair and body products all over the sink, along with whatever hair dryers and straighteners they have plugged in. They’ve blown a fuse in that bathroom more than once.

The living room is empty when he gets out, so he follows the noise to the porch, where he finds everyone, including Red and his father, smoking and talking. Well, Red’s dad is taking a hit off Red’s vape, coughing enough after he has to take a long drink from the water bottle he’s got beside him. “I don’t like that,” he says, once he gets his breath back.

“Hey,” Josh calls, holding out an arm to Vas. “Sorry, man, tried to wake you up, but you were _out_.”

“I needed the sleep,” Vas says, stepping into his space so Josh can get an arm around his waist. He ducks down so he can kiss the top of Josh’s head, feeling affectionate with Josh’s arm around him. “How long have you two been here?” 

Goody reaches down into the cooler and hands Vas a water. “Not long. We were up, figured we’d head out here early, get settled. Billy’s got a new marinade he wanted to get started before it got too late, anyway.” 

Vas grew up learning how to cook, so it’s an easy chore for him, but Billy is something else. He’s bossy as fuck in the kitchen, and precise to a fault. Vas tries to help, when asked, but Billy usually just wants them as far away from the kitchen as possible when he’s working on something. There’s no arguing with the results though.

“Oh yeah, we still got to go to the store,” Josh says, his fingers rubbing into Vas’ hip. “You want to come?” 

“I don’t trust you,” Billy says, which is apparently his answer. “What’s Poppy want us to get?” He takes the list Joe digs out of his jeans pocket, then narrows his eyes and passes it to Goody with a questioning look. 

Goody looks at it, then back at Joe. “Poppy’s doing some cooking this year?”

Red groans for some reason, and turns to his dad with an incredulous look. Joe just shrugs. “Boy, don’t give me that look. You’ve never brought anyone home, and your mom is excited. Let her have it. It’ll be easier on all of us.” 

“This is stupid,” Red mutters. 

“You can think that all you like, but you better keep it to yourself around your mom,” Joe says, taking a short hit off the vape and passing it back to Red. “Don’t let me have that back.” He sits back in the chair, putting his feet up on the scratched coffee table. “She’s just making a few things, anyway. Won’t be any trouble.”

“Whatever,” Red says, standing up and getting his phone out when it goes off, texting with one hand while he walks off. 

With a seat now open, Vas takes it, figuring Red won’t come back until they’re ready to leave anyway. 

“Boy’s got him on a short leash, doesn’t he?” Joe asks, smiling. 

Goody offers Vas a cigarette, but he shakes his head. He’s been trying to quit, slowly but surely. “Nah,” Goody says to Joe, putting his pack back. “Teddy Q’s a nice boy.”

“Red’s just whipped,” Josh says, getting Billy to snicker.

“It was bound to happen sooner or later,” Joe says agreeably, getting a pretzel out of the jar on the table. “Happened to me, at least. Granted, I met Poppy when I was twelve, so some of that was just hormones.” He looks over at Vas, smiling. “So, Vas. Where are you from?” 

It’s a question Vas expected to get a couple of times on this trip. “I was born in Texas, but I grew up here,” he answers. “Over in Prince George.”

“Prince George isn’t exactly _here_ ,” Joe says. “What do your parents do?”

“My father was an electrical engineer, but he passed away when I was sixteen,” Vas says. “My mother is a pediatric surgeon.” 

Joe nods. “Good job to have,” he says, but doesn’t ask any further. That throws Vas off a little. Usually, people tend to stretch that subject out, either asking more about her, or why Vas himself hadn’t followed her career path. Joe, on the other hand, turns to Josh, and says, “If you’re all wanting to have a bonfire, you’re going to have to either get, or chop some firewood yourself. I haven’t been up to it, and your mother and Poppy have been pulling extra shifts all month.” 

“That sounds like a tomorrow-job,” Josh says, standing up. “Today-job is going to the grocery store.” 

“If you bring me some cigarettes, you’ll be my favorite,” Joe calls after them. 

“No, I’ll be dead,” Josh calls back, shrugging into his coat. 

“How about some beer?”

“That I can do,” Josh says agreeably, handing Vas his own hoodie, and Vas pulls it over his head, feeling his hair go everywhere after. Josh fixes it though, or makes it worse. Whichever. “You ready, babe?” 

Vas fishes his keys out of his pocket, and nods. “Let’s go.” 

It doesn’t take long at the grocery store, at least not compared to how long it usually takes with his own family. Josh and Billy don’t fight about every little thing like his sisters and his cousins do, instead just grabbing whatever is on the list, when they can find it. Half the store is empty in a way Vas has never seen a grocery store; the only aisle well-stocked is the one with the beer and wine. 

But Josh and Billy find everything they need. Before Vas can offer to pay, Billy does it, the clerk not even pretending to care about asking for their IDs, despite the fact they’re buying alcohol. She barely looks at them at first, but after giving Josh a second look, she asks, “Faraday?” 

“That’s what it says on my license,” Josh replies distantly. 

“Really gonna pretend you don’t remember me?” she asks, handing Billy the receipt. “We went to high school together.” Vas doesn’t really like her tone, and he checks on Josh, watching to make sure this isn’t about to go bad. 

Josh doesn’t look all that interested. “High school was awhile ago.” 

“Not that long. But guess that’s easy to say when you get a free ride out of here,” she says. 

Now Vas interferes. “You always get an attitude with customers?” 

He _really_ doesn’t like the way she looks him up and down, and sneers. “Just catching up. Faraday knows I don’t mean anything by it.” 

“Vas.” Josh is grabbing bags, Billy already going back to the car. “Let’s go, man.” 

He’s not here to start shit, so he does what he’s asked. Once they’re in the car, though, he turns to Josh, and asks, “What was that?”

“Who the fuck cares?” Josh is lighting a cigarette, cracking the window to let the smoke out. “She’s a went-nowhere homecoming queen with two kids and two divorces already. Whatever bone she’s got to pick with me isn’t worth your time.” He braces his knee against the dash, and shakes his head. “I’ve told you, Red and me weren’t winning any popularity contests. The golden children didn’t like it too much when it turned out being pretty or throwing a football for some shitty backwoods high school didn’t mean anything to the rest of the world.”

From the backseat, Billy adds, “Didn’t help that you and Red both got scholarships. And your choice of schools.” 

“Yeah, and we earned those spots,” Josh says hotly. “Eighteen years of this bullshit was more than enough.”

It’s angrier than Vas can remember Josh ever being, even when he was going at it with Emma. This sounds downright bitter, and while Josh can hold a grudge, it’s never felt as visceral as this does, at least not to Vas. 

“Try being the only Asian kid,” Billy says airily. 

“Eh.” Josh shrugs, and nods. “Fair point. I’ll give you that one.” 

“How does she have two divorces already?” Vas doesn’t understand that. She has to be their age. 

Billy answers that. “Probably got married right out of high school. They all do that in towns like this. When that turned out to be a bad idea, she married whoever her second choice was. New marriages are just a distraction, around here. They need them.” 

“It’s not always like that,” Josh says, somewhat defensively. “Poppy and Joe been together for twenty-something years.” 

“That’s different,” Billy dismisses. “They got married for the right reasons, not just because they had a kid and that’s what they were supposed to do. It’s like Goody and me. We didn’t have to get married just because it was legal. We’d talked about it, whether or not we needed it on paper.”

Vas risks looking at Billy in the rearview. “Why did you?” 

It’s something he’s started thinking about, now that he’s hitting this part of his life. He’s almost finished his master’s, and he’s got some job offers waiting for him, mostly through family friends. It’s not that he’s looking to hit every mark on a checklist, just that he knows this is the point where whoever he’s with could likely be who he stays with. 

And right now, he’s with Josh. That’s how he’d like things to stay, moving forward, but he knows that’s not a sure thing, no matter how much he likes to think so. They’re just barely started with this being a real relationship, and they haven’t talked about what they both want long-term. Everything is still settling with them.

By contrast, Billy and Goody have always felt solid, from the day Vas met them. They hadn’t been married then, but they’d been living together, and they’d already seemed like they’d been together forever. For them, marriage had felt like a foregone conclusion, even to Vas. 

“Goody’s family hates me, and my family isn’t sold on him,” Billy says. “If anything happens, we wanted to be sure we were the ones making the decisions. And that what’s ours stays ours.” He tilts his head. “The tax break was nice too. Helped with our aid.” 

“Why doesn’t your family like Goody?” Josh asks. “I mean, he gets that payout once a year from the trust, and the money from the Army for making him crazy. His crazy is mostly under control. Owns all that property.”

“He’s a man. And he’s white.” 

“They’re not over that yet?”

“They are never going to get over that,” Billy says. “The only way I could have made it worse is if he was Chinese. Or black.” 

Josh looks at Vas first, but he shrugs. He really doesn’t know anything about Korean culture, beyond what Billy tells them, and he’s pretty sure Billy is just fucking with them most of the time. 

There’s another car parked in front of Josh’s house when they get there; early 2000’s Honda like the one Lucia had gotten as her first car, to be passed down amongst the girls over the years until Mari put it out of its misery two years ago. It must be Josh’s mom’s car, Vas thinks, and the women standing on the front porch must be Josh and Red’s moms. 

Red’s mom is _tiny_ , is the first thing Vas thinks, not helped by the large man’s coat she’s holding closed across her chest. Like her husband, she’s got some grey showing in her black hair, cut in a short bob, but even from here, she looks like she’s practically vibrating with energy. 

On the other end of the scale, is Josh’s mom. She’s a tall, broad-shouldered woman, with a ton of bright red-blonde curly hair piled up on her head, and a brown flannel coat on. 

Neither of them are looking at the car, even when they park and start unloading bags. Instead, it looks like they’re both talking at Red, who’s sitting on the porch steps, smoking a cigarette and looking like he wants to be shot. He gets up as soon as they’ve got the hatch open, stubbing his cigarette out and coming over to help. 

“If you think you’re getting out of this, you’ve got another thing coming,” Red’s mom, Poppy, calls after him. “I shouldn’t have to hear about this shit from Josh, you little hermit! I gave birth to you, I’m entitled to some information!” 

“You’re dead,” Vas hears Red mutter to Josh. 

“Dude, she was going to find out eventually. And you said I could.” 

“I wasn’t listening,” Red hisses. “You were freaking out about Vas. That shit got old quick.” 

That gets Vas’ attention. “You were freaking out about me?” 

“Whatever,” Josh dismisses, but leans over and smacks a kiss on Vas’ cheek. “It all worked out.” 

“Did you get coffee creamer?” Molly calls from the porch, getting Josh’s attention. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Josh answers back. “You’d know if you came out and helped.”

“That’s what we have you two for,” Poppy says. “What’s the point of having kids if we don’t get any labor out of you?” 

Josh, just ahead of Vas now, suggests, “Eternal love and devotion?” 

“Think I would have had better luck with a dog,” Molly drawls, but she takes one of the bags from Josh. “Dog probably wouldn’t have gotten brought home by the cops so many times, either.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Josh says, holding the door open for Vas and Billy. 

Inside, Vas follows Billy’s lead and puts the bags down on the table. There’s not much room to really put them anywhere else, not to mention themselves. Vas doesn’t usually think much about his height. It’s usually an asset. But right now, he feels too big, like he’s in the way. It’s not helpful when something runs into his elbow, startling him. 

It turns out to be Poppy, in the process of throwing her coat on the couch. “Sorry, kid, didn’t mean to scare you,” she says, when she notices him looking down at her. She gets past him, and sits at one of the old barstools in front of the kitchen counter, leaning over it and getting a mug off the drying mat. “Molly, get me some. I’m dying. That kid of mine is killing me. Like, actually killing me. He finally dates someone, and I don’t even hear it from him! I don’t hear anything from him! I wouldn’t even know he was alive if Joe didn’t make him check in every week!” 

In the little kitchen, Billy and Molly move around each other easily. Billy is seemingly sorting through stuff for what he needs, while Molly finds the coffee creamer, and fills a mug for herself, then Poppy’s. “You wanna trade?” she asks. 

“Right here, Mom,” Josh says, moving between Vas, Poppy and the couch until he finds somewhere to sit. He gestures for Vas to join him, so Vas does, uncomfortable and eager to be out of the way, even if he feels guilty about it. At home, he would be expected to put stuff away, but really, there’s no room for him, and it’s not like he knows where anything goes here. 

“I know exactly where you are,” Molly says, sitting on the stool next to Poppy, but turning so she’s facing them. “You,” she says in Vas’ direction, and Vas is confused for a second, until he looks over his shoulder, to see Red standing in the doorway. “Quit being a jackass to your mom, it’s not cute. It wasn’t even cute when _you_ were cute.”

“Whatever,” Red says, dropping the last of the bags on the table. 

“Oh my god, it’s not like I asked for his blood type and your intentions,” Poppy complains. “C’mon, one thing. Just one.” She holds up a finger. “Please? Please, please make your mother happy?”

“She’s not going to shut up until you do,” Molly adds. 

That seems to sway Red more than anything. “He’s twenty-four, his degree is in genetics, he’s an only child. Happy?”

“Thrilled,” Poppy drawls, grabbing onto Red when he passes by her. “You’re so weird, kid.” She pulls him down, Red going along with it, and kisses his temple. “Did I tell you I missed you? Because I did. You’re my favorite kind of weird. You and Josh both. Also, your father was getting on my nerves. He keeps trying to make me like hockey. You’d think after twenty-five years, he’d know it’s not happening.” 

Vas thinks Poppy might have said more in the past ten minutes than Vas remembers getting out of Red in the first month he knew him. No one else seems remotely phased though, so this must be her normal setting. 

Molly grabs at Red too once Poppy is done. “I want a hug, jerk.” Red obliges, surprising Vas a little, but Red’s always been alright with Josh touching him. “Okay, you spent fifteen minutes with us, you spoke, you’ve hugged us. You’ve fulfilled your obligation. You have my permission to go hide.” 

“Don’t tell him that,” Poppy protests, but Red’s already gone. “Damn it, Molly, I had him cornered for once.” 

“Let him go,” Molly cautions mildly, waving her free hand. “He’ll get hungry eventually.” 

“He acts like he’s got to be scared of me!” Poppy whines. “The kid is a foot taller than me!”

“Name someone who isn’t,” Molly returns, and gets smacked in the arm by Poppy. “Watch it, Smurfette.” Her and Poppy make faces at each other, and that apparently settles the matter enough that finally, Molly turns to Vas. “So, you’re Vas. We’ve all heard a lot about you.” Vas can’t think of anything bad Josh, or even Red, might have said about him, but her tone is surprisingly neutral. “You’re in physics?”

“Yes,” he answers, trying to think of a way to explain it that doesn’t sound like he’s talking down to them, but it ends up not being an issue. 

Mostly because Billy uses the opportunity to calmly say, “If it doesn’t work…”

“Shut up,” Vas replies, annoyed. “You’re in fucking engineering -”

“Engineering works.”

“Now, _cher_ , I distinctly remember saying something about not bringing up any of that squabbling,” Goody says, his tone a warning all on its own. “I remember saying it several times, as a matter of fact.” 

“Just joking,” Billy replies lightly, but goes back to whatever it is he’s doing. 

Goody eyes him, but smiles. “Of course you were, darling.” He shifts so he’s facing Molly and Poppy, still smiling. “Anything new and interesting in the gossip pool in your neck of the woods, ladies?” 

And just like that, the attention is off Vas. He doesn’t really mind, but at the same time, he kind of does. His own mother had asked Josh questions non-stop the first time Vas had brought him home, and when Josh wasn’t around, she’d been asking Vas. They hadn’t even been together then, even his mother had been dropping heavy-handed hints left and right. 

But Molly and Poppy seem to be fine just catching them all up on what’s been going on in their lives, talking about people Vas doesn’t know and events he’s never heard about. Josh isn’t any help, mostly just nodding along while he looks at his phone, catching up on some emails Sam had sent, looks like. Vas doesn’t want to get his own phone out, not wanting to look rude, but he’s having a hard time following along. 

For one of the first times he can ever remember, he kind of wants Red to come back. 

“Why on Earth would Bear even hire her?” Vas has at least been able to gather that the ‘Bear’ they keep referencing is Red’s grandfather, Poppy’s father, the man who owns the construction company they work for. 

Molly sighs into her coffee. “She’s a pain in the ass, but Bear feels sorry for her. I do too, honestly. She’s between a rock and a hard place. Nineteen, already got a kid, and a deadbeat meth addict for a baby daddy.”

“Is there another kind of meth addict?” Goody asks. 

“Same with any addiction,” Molly says. “Some can function, some can’t. He’s driving a truck for Rusty right now, actually, but guess any extra money he makes goes right to drugs.” 

“Shame,” Poppy adds, though she doesn’t look too sincere. But like with how Josh and Red talk about it, this seems to just be a part of their lives, even if Vas doesn’t understand. “He’s only twenty-two. Probably won’t make it to twenty-five, rate he’s going.” She sort-of shakes it off though, and changes the subject. “In any case, she’s young enough she can learn to be useful. Dad won’t fire her unless she really fucks up, and even then, he might not. It’s hard to find good office employees around here. Bella’s dumb, but she shows up on time every day, and bless her heart, she’s trying. Best we can ask for, half the time.”

“Got one like that myself,” Goody says. “She wants to be an actress, but Lord, I can’t bring myself to cast her as anything more complicated than a ‘tree’. Earnest little thing, though.” 

Josh finally says something. “You talking about Nikki?” He tilts his head at Vas. “She’s got a crush on you, Vas.” 

She does, a painfully obvious one. “Which is flattering. But she’s only eighteen.” And at twenty-four himself, almost twenty-five, she’s too young for Vas to have ever taken seriously, even if Josh hadn’t been in the picture. “She’s too much like CiCi, anyway.” Nikki doesn’t look like a thing like his sister, CiCi, but their personalities are almost identical. They even talk the same.

“She is, isn’t she?” Josh and CiCi get along too well for Vas’ comfort. They even follow each other on Instagram. “I miss her. You should invite her up. She’s looking at colleges this year, right?” 

“Out-of-state colleges,” Vas says, rolling his eyes. “I think she’s even applying in Alaska.”

“She knows Alaska is cold, right?” 

“She knows it’s a couple thousand miles away from our family,” Vas says. “She says she wants a chance to ‘be her own person’.” And Vas can kind of understand that. As the only boy, it’s been easier for him to distinguish himself from the pack, but people, himself included, tend to treat his sisters like a unit, especially the younger girls. He still doesn’t like the idea of her being so far away though. “Don’t think she really understands what out-of-state tuition means.” 

Josh smirks. “Lucia can probably explain it to her.” 

That reminds Vas of his conversation with her earlier; there’s not much he can do to help right now, but after he starts working, he should be able to kick some money her and Teresa’s way. They won’t take it from his mother, but they might from him, especially since the baby will be here by then. 

That’s not Josh’s concern though, so Vas says, “Think Lucia will just be mad she’s losing out on a babysitter.” 

“Who’s Lucia?” Poppy asks. 

“One of my sisters. I have five.” There’s finally something for him to say to the whole room, and Vas is happy to take it. “Lucia is the oldest, she’s a teacher. Her and her wife, Teresa, are expecting a baby in February. Then me, then Angie, she’s a senior in high school, then Xiomara, she’s a junior. We call her CiCi. Marisol, Mari, is next, but she’s only ten months younger than CiCi, so she’s a junior too. And then Penelope, she’s only fourteen. We call her Lupe.” Because they’re not here to fight, he adds, “Lupe is my favorite.”

Josh adds his own favor in, because he has to. “Nah, CiCi is the best.” 

“You try living with her, see if you still think that.” They’ve had this argument before about a dozen times, but it’s old ground Vas likes stepping on. It always makes him feel like Josh is a part of not just his life at school, but his life at home, too. “Think she threatened to stab me once because I unplugged her hair straightener.” That probably happened a few times, actually,with all of his sisters, at one point or another. He needed to use the outlets too, sometimes. 

“I wanted a girl,” Poppy muses out loud. “I had all these plans for a little girl. Cute holiday dresses, and ribbons, and all that.”

“I’ve seen old pictures of Red,” Molly says. “Him being a boy didn’t seem to stop you from the ‘ribbons’ thing.” 

“It’s different for us,” Poppy dismisses. “And anyway, with my luck, even if I’d gotten a girl, she’d be just as rough and tumble as he was. I was just happy I could keep him in clothes. Hell, that’s still a miracle.” She takes a sip of her coffee, kicking her feet against the railing of the barstool. “So your mom’s got six, huh? That’s a full house.” 

“It’s a little easier on her now that Lucia and me are out of the house,” he says. “And Angie took over the guest house, so she only has to share when Lucia and her wife are in town. The other three have their own rooms that way, and mine gets left alone.” Too late, he realizes how that sounds, Lucia’s warning popping back up in his head. Josh had been pretty impressed by the house the first time he’d visited, but back then, Vas hadn’t really thought about it. 

The two women share a look that Vas can’t read, but neither says anything. Goody is the one who asks, “Your mama let little Angie move into the guest house?” 

“She’s eighteen,” Vas says. “And after Lucia and me, _Mamá_ ’s relaxed a little.” Well, really, his mother is giving Angie the illusion of independence, while still keeping her close. He’s rather sure his mother still isn’t over him and Lucia moving away for college as soon as they graduated. This way, Angie thinks she’s getting her way, but she’s still in his mother’s backyard. “It’s not like Angie does anything. She has her books, food, Internet and all her streaming services out there. That’s all she wants.” Angie’s mouthy, but she’s also easily the most introverted of all of them. “If she could get the food delivered, and convince _Mamá_ to let her do home-schooling, she’d never go outside again.” 

Beside Vas, Josh twists, and cracks his back. “Dude, if I could live in that guest house, I’d never leave either.” 

He’d said that back when he first saw it, too, comparing it to their own place. “Our house isn’t so bad.” The house they live in when they’re at school is old, true, and the landlord is usually MIA whenever anything goes wrong, but Vas is fond of it. It’s comfortable, in an easy-going neighborhood full of mostly students like themselves. Vas even likes their neighbors, when they’re not fighting. 

“We still don’t have a dryer,” Josh points out. 

“It’s a cheap roof over your head,” Molly says. “We’ve lived in worse places.” 

“How would you know, you’ve never even seen it,” Josh grouses. 

“Remember that place we lived in by the river, with the hole behind the stove?” Molly doesn’t look like she feels one way or the other about the memory, but Josh grimaces. 

“Not gonna lie to you, Mom, I try to _not_ remember that place.” He looks at Vas. “Raccoon got in once. That was not a fun night.” 

Molly hums, while Poppy laughs. “You want to bitch about a raccoon? When I was ten, a coyote tried to let itself into our house, and since my brother was scared of the damn things, I had to shoot it with my dad’s rifle. On our fucking porch! I was lucky I got a clean head shot. Do you know how long it takes to scrub blood out of a floor? Or brick, for that matter?” 

While Vas stares, and Billy raises his eyebrows behind her, Goody politely coughs, and says, “No offense meant, Ms. Poppy, but I do believe most people would be a mite bit scared if a coyote wandered into their domicile.”

“Well, my dumb brother crying like a little girl and hiding behind the couch didn’t help anything,” she refutes. “It was either do something about it, or start giving it chores. I did something about it.”

Vas can’t help but agree with that. At the same time, Poppy is an adult now, and she hardly looks big enough to shoot a rifle. Still, he doesn’t have a hard time picturing it if he thinks about it. The woman is Red’s mother, after all. 

“Really wish I’d had you around back then,” Molly says. “Alright, Josh, you and your friends want to do a tree, or not?” 

“I do enjoy the tree,” Goody says. “Billy?” Billy just shrugs, but Goody says, “That’s two votes for a tree. What about you, Vas?”

He can’t think of where they could possibly put it, but he doesn’t see any harm. And he likes the tree, too. “I wouldn’t say no, if you want to.” This he says to Josh, and nods at Molly, too. It’s not his house, after all. 

“Tree it is,” Josh says agreeably. “We can probably hit the lot tonight. They’ll have firewood, too.”

“You want to use the truck?” Poppy asks. 

“Yeah,” Josh says, getting up now, and making his way to the kitchen. “You and Joe doing a tree?”

Without Josh by him, Vas feels a little adrift. Poppy is talking about trees from Christmas’ years back, Molly adding in her own commentary. Even Goody and Billy seem to know the stories they’re talking about. No one’s excluding him, but Vas doesn’t have anything to add, not even sure how he would. The only person here who actually knows his family is Josh. And he can’t think of anything anyway, for some reason. 

He needs some air, he decides. 

Outside, he finds Red, sitting on the tail of an old pick-up truck across the narrow road. Vas crosses over, and boosts himself up to sit beside him, exhaling heavily, his breath visible. He hadn’t grabbed his hat, so he pulls his hood up. 

“You don’t even have a coat on,” he says. It’s true. Red’s got gloves and a knit hat on, but other than that, he’s just got a long-sleeved Henley. “So...your mom can talk.” Red nods. “That why you don’t? She never lets you get a word in edgewise?”

“I talk,” Red says, looking down at his phone. 

That reminds Vas. “Yeah, apparently you can do it in Spanish too. What the fuck, man?” 

“My grandmother is from New Mexico. Spanish is her preferred language. She watched me a lot when I was little.” He fiddles with his phone some more, but nothing pops up, as far as Vas can see. “After Spanish, French was easy. Took German when I was getting my bachelor’s.” 

“You speak any of…” Vas doesn’t know the right word, so he goes with, “Your people’s language?”

“Some words.” Again with the phone. 

Vas bites the bullet, and asks, “Does Josh’s mom already not like me?” It’s not like she’d said anything, but Vas had just had this feeling the whole time. Not like she’d _disliked_ him, but just...a feeling. 

“I told you,” Red says. “You’re different.” 

“From what?” 

“Us.” He nods his head, and Vas gets he means the whole neighborhood with the gesture. “You ever even been in a place like this?”

“I had friends in school from neighborhoods like this,” Vas says, shrugging. “What does that matter?” 

Red shakes his head. “It’s different.” He looks at Vas, like Vas is stupid, then back out at the street. “Your mom is a fucking surgeon. You ever spend a week scared the gas company was going to shut off your heat? Or a week where they did?” No, Vas has never gone through that. “For our parents, we’re it. Just getting us through high school was a fucking struggle. Getting us to college? In STEM?” He doesn’t raise his voice, but Vas still feels like he is, and so he stays quiet, listens. “This is our life, man. Either of us fucks up, we end up right back here.” 

He doesn’t even sound angry. And Vas gets it, or at least some of it from Red’s perspective. But he still doesn’t see what Red’s trying to tell him. “I know where Josh is from. That’s not important to me, I want to be with him.”

“Yeah, you’ve both been fucking stupid for each other since you met,” Red says. “ _I_ know that. But to Molly? You’re just some rich kid slumming it.” He checks his phone again, but Vas can see there’s still nothing. “Josh is her only kid. She’s just looking out for him.” 

It almost pisses Vas off, kind of does. He knows that’s not what he is, and he wouldn’t do that to someone. But Red has a point; Molly doesn’t know him. And this is probably what Lucia and Hannah were both trying to tell him, without getting him defensive. “So how do I prove I’m not?”

“I don’t know,” Red admits. “Stick around, I guess.” 

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Vas says, hunching further into his hoodie. It’s fucking cold out. They’re not even that far from campus, but it feels like it dropped another ten degrees. He wonders if it has something to do with the lack of buildings. “You and Teddy have a fight or something?” He hitches his chin at Red’s phone.

Red shakes his head.

“Then why are you staring at your phone like that?”

“Nervous,” Red says. 

It doesn’t really surprise Vas that Red admits it; he’s not the most touchy-feely guy, but he never seems to have a problem with being honest, at least when he’s asked a direct question. “Why?” 

He doesn’t get a real answer at first, Red sort of shrugging him off, so Vas lets it be for now, thinking about his own situation. There’s no easy answer for it; it’s not that Molly doesn’t like him, he thinks. She doesn’t _trust_ him. She doesn’t know him. All he can do is try to make a good impression during this trip, and hope it sticks. 

“We’re getting a Christmas tree,” he tells Red, figuring that’s something he should know. 

“Of fucking course.” 

Vas raises his eyebrows. “You got a problem with Christmas trees?” 

Red grimaces, and taps his phone against his leg. “I don’t want this to get weird.” 

“How is a Christmas tree weird?”

There’s silence for a good minute, Vas waiting. “Teddy didn’t want to come. Said he didn’t want to make things weird. Since he doesn’t do Christmas. Never has.” He breathes out hard, through his teeth it looks like. “I told him it would be fine. Now my mom is cooking, they’re decorating.”

It’s so odd to see Red wrong-footed and nervous, that Vas can’t help himself. “Aw. You care about your boyfriend’s feelings.” He wraps an arm around Red and squeezes. “Did Santa bring you a heart for Christmas, Tin Man?” 

“The reservation is federal jurisdiction. Means they have to call in the feds for a crime,” Red says, confusing Vas for a second. “Think there will still be anything left of you to find by the time they come looking?” 

“If you kill me, Josh will never speak to you again.” But Vas still drops his arm, mostly so he can stick his hands back in his hoodie pocket. _Fuck_ , it’s cold. 

Getting a Christmas tree is, again, much easier than it’s ever been with his family. It’s being run by the VFW, according to the banner, but the work is being done by teenagers, none of whom seem to know or care about Josh. Where his family would argue for a good hour about finding the perfect tree, here, they all seem fine with letting Goody do the work of picking one. It only takes him fifteen minutes, at best, before he declares a randomly selected balsam as the perfect one. 

There’s a large gap on one side, but when Vas points it out, Goody says, “It has character,” and that is apparently that. 

Decorating it also falls to Goody, or at least Vas thinks so, because before he can offer to help, Josh wraps an arm around Vas from behind and says, “Hey, come on,” pulling him towards the door. 

It’s even colder now that it’s dark outside. “Why are we out here?”

“‘Cause no one else is out here,” Josh says, dragging Vas towards him by his hoodie. “So, what do you think? You ready to ditch?” 

“Nah,” Vas says, smiling. He can’t help it; sometimes just looking at Josh is enough to get that fond feeling rising up in his chest. “By now, someone is already not speaking to someone else, and my _abuela_ has had too much to drink, and is making people uncomfortable. My mother is stressing herself out about something stupid, and no one has seen Angie in an hour.” And in another hour, his mother will notice, and start working herself up over that too, despite the fact none of their other relatives care. By comparison, Josh’s own mother not instantly adoring him is easy. “Why? You looking to escape?”

“Just, I know this isn’t like what you’re used to,” Josh says, leaning back against the bumper of Vas’ car, and pulling Vas between his legs, the gravel scattering under their feet. “I want you here, don’t get me wrong, but you’re used to a certain level of holiday cheer.” 

“Is ‘holiday cheer’ some sort of code for ‘fucking chaos’ that I don’t know?” He leans down so he can touch his forehead to Josh. “English is technically my second language, you know.” They kiss, and after, Josh nuzzles at Vas’ neck, humming against his skin. In turn, Vas drapes his arms around Josh’s shoulders, risking taking his hands out of his pockets. 

“Sorry about earlier,” Josh says. “At the grocery store.”

“What, that girl?” 

“Yeah. That was stupid. She was kind of a bitch in high school.” 

“She’s kind of a bitch now,” Vas points out. They’ve all been out of high school for a good six years by now. There comes a time to just let shit go. “Why was she like that?”

“Reasons I said, plus a couple of others. I mean, me and Red, we got in trouble a lot, but nothing stuck, and both of us were trying to get the hell out of there. We worked hard. I mean, natural awesomeness was a big factor,” he drawls, and Vas nips at his ear. “Whatever, you think I’m awesome.” He settles back, his hands in Vas’s hoodie pocket now. “Like I said, kids around here thought their bullshit made ‘em special. You know as well as I do, colleges don’t care if you were Homecoming Queen. The school she wanted to get into real bad didn’t take her.”

Now Vas has put it together. “They took you, though.”

“Because being a fucking math genius is actually useful.” He’s not wrong, but he still looks a little embarrassed under the arrogance. “But her life ain’t turned out so great, I guess. So I wasn’t trying to start shit with her in there. She just pissed me off. I don’t owe her any of my time. And she didn’t need to be looking at you like that.”

“You saw that?”

“Yeah, I saw that.” He pulls a little on Vas’ hoodie. “No one needs to be looking at you like that.” 

It’s sweet, but not necessary. “Don’t need you to defend me, Josh. I’m a big boy.” When Josh grins, Vas flicks him in the head. “Whatever you’re thinking isn’t nearly as funny as you think it is.” 

“You don’t know that,” Josh protests. 

“Yeah, I do.” He pushes on Josh’s head, then ducks down and kisses him again. “Why are you thinking about that?”

“Just don’t like the idea of you thinking bad things about me,” Josh says, shuffling a bit. “Unless you’re thinking about bad things to do to me.” 

“Idiot,” Vas says, laughing. “Why do I like you so much?”

Josh tugs on Vas’ hoodie again, looking down at the ground. “Don’t know. You tell me.” 

It’s so cold out, it’s starting to hurt Vas’ bare skin, and around them, he can hear all the neighbors; their TVs and their conversations. A few dogs are barking a couple of streets over. This might not be the best time. 

But Vas is feeling it, so he says, “Guess it’s ‘cause I love you.” 

Josh keeps staring at the ground for a minute, reaching up and playing with the strings of Vas’ hoodie. “Yeah?” He finally looks up, smiling. “Ain’t that a funny coincidence? I love you, too.” 

It’s not getting any less cold out out, but Vas figures they can both last a couple more minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The raccoon story happened to me, as a child. The coyote story happened to a friend, only he was the one hiding. In his defense, he was eight, and as I was told, his dad thought it was funny to tell him that the coyotes would eat him, and he was terrified of them. 
> 
> Friendly reminder that I am conveniently located at [The March Rabbit](themarchrabbit.tumblr.com) on Tumblr, and I hold open prompt requests at times.


	3. Chapter 3

Molly gets up early, as it turns out. Vas isn’t expecting to see anyone else when he wakes up at six, thrown off from sleeping in the middle of the day, but she’s already up and dressed, her things lying across the back of the couch. Goody is still asleep on the foldout, but Billy is up too, sitting with Molly at the bar and drinking coffee. 

“Morning,” he says quietly, getting some coffee himself, but choosing to stand. He has that itchy feeling under his skin of too much energy.

Billy and Molly both nod to him, but there’s no talking, even after Molly finishes up and heads out the door. 

“She has to work?” 

“Someone has to do payroll,” Billy reminds him. “She’s only on half-days now though. She’ll be home around three.” Out the window, the curtains left open, he can see her getting into the car, a dark head that must be Poppy already in the passenger seat. “Going for a run. Want to come?” 

There’s no point in staying inside, not with Josh and Goody sleeping, so Vas nods, and gets dressed as quietly as he can before following Billy out. Molly and Poppy aren’t the only ones getting an early start, either; they pass lots of cars already running, people scraping the snow off their windshields before they get in. 

It’s too cold for him to run long, and the gravel road isn’t helping. Vas swears he can feel every rock through his shoes. But he’s not telling Billy any of that, so he sucks it up. But by the time they get back to the porch, he’s definitely out of breath. 

“Smoking is bad for you,” Billy says. 

“You smoke, asshole,” Vas hisses. 

“I’m Korean,” Billy says. “Better genes.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Prove it,” Billy replies, standing up. “Oh, wait. You’re in physics.” 

One of these days, he’s going to actually haul off and hit Billy. And then he’ll probably get his ass kicked, but still. 

_Fuck_ , he’s got to quit smoking. He never should have started the stupid habit. He swears he hears that in his mother’s voice. 

Billy gets a shower first, and then Vas. By then, Goody and Josh are up too, and Goody’s making breakfast. Honestly, that’s something Vas has missed about his own house. The food part, not the part where he usually had to fight with his sisters for his fair share. 

“Alright, tree’s up, we’ve got food, we’ve got firewood,” Josh lists. “Anything else we got to get done?” 

“Can’t think of anything,” Goody says. “Billy’s got the cooking under control. Guess if we wanted, we could put up a few things on the porch. Make it a little festive.” 

“There’s a tree,” Josh protests. “What else is there?” 

“I despair of you,” Goody says dryly. 

“Whatever,” Josh dismisses. 

Vas nudges him, getting his attention. “It could be fun,” he says. 

And it is. Without anyone dictating where every single thing should go to get everything ‘just right’, decorating is easy. Josh gets two boxes out of the shed where the washer and dryer are, and together, they sort through what’s usable. There’s not much to start with, but Vas supposes that makes sense. There’s not much storage space in the trailer, so Josh and his mom have likely never collected much over the years. 

There’s a light-up polar bear holding a Coke bottle that Josh is excited to find, sitting it in the center of the battered old coffee table on the porch. 

Goody’s helping Billy get started on some baking, just the screen door shut to disperse the heat, and since they’re occupied, Vas doesn’t see a reason to say no when Josh decides they should sit out and enjoy their work.

There’s a stereo on the porch, and Vas fiddles with it until he finds a station playing Christmas music, settling back on the outdoor couch with Josh. They’d found some batteries for the polar bear, so it’s lit up, the inside lights supposed to look like falling snow, Vas guesses. “I like the bear,” he tells Josh. 

He does. It makes him think of being a kid. 

“Mom stole it for me,” Josh says. 

“The illustrious Faraday clan strikes again,” Vas jokes. 

“Shut up,” Josh says, whacking him in the chest. “When I was a kid, I loved holiday commercials. You know, the M&M’s one, the Hershey Kisses one, all of those. And I really liked those polar bears. So Mom would always try to get that stuff. The candy with the Christmas stuff. But then when I was like...I don’t know, six? Coke had some kind of holiday party for the bottling plant up the way, and Mom got a job with the people doing the catering. Next morning, she had that little guy right there for me. They were table decorations. Loved it.” 

It’s sweet, and Josh sounds so fond, that Vas turns his head and kisses him. “No one noticed?”

“Eh, a lot of ‘em probably went missing.” He leans a little further into Vas, so Vas stretches out an arm around the back of the couch. “Caterer let them all take home the flowers too. House looked real nice that year. Had a lot of those red ones they sell in pots this time of year.”

“Poinsettias?” 

“Yeah, sure.” Josh’s hair is just against Vas’ jaw, so Vas takes the opportunity to kiss the top of his head. “Ha. You like me, sucker.” 

“I love you,” Vas says again, just to say it. And because he likes Josh to hear it, now that he can. “So yes, I guess I like you.” 

“Means you’re stuck with me now.” He shifts some more, his weight heavy against Vas. “My mom really likes flowers. Especially those red ones. We should have gotten some at the lot last night, but I wasn’t thinking about it.” 

She might not be too fond of Vas just yet, but she is Josh’s mom, and she did invite him here. “We could go get some today. Be a nice surprise for her, when she gets home.” And it might help Vas’ case a little, doing something considerate. 

“Vas, man, I don’t like pleading poverty, but I’m going to have to,” Josh admits, sounding uncomfortable about the fact. 

“Don’t worry about it.” He’s got his own money from working for Sam, and his mother and both sets of grandparents had put money in his account for the holidays. 

Back at the lot, there’s less teenagers. They might still be in school, but Vas can’t remember how that works anymore. Now, it’s all people around their age and older, most of the oldest wearing hats showing which wars they’d fought in. They have poinsettias though, and some candle wreaths and the like. Vas doesn’t see the harm in getting one of those too, for the kitchen. It’ll make Goody happy, at least. He gets a poinsettia for Poppy too, figuring even if she doesn’t like them, it’s ten dollars, and it’s polite.

The poinsettias look nice on the little porch. They take the extra one across the gravel road to Red’s porch, where Red’s sitting, watching his phone again. 

“Here,” Josh says, setting the plant down on the top step. “Tell Auntie they’re from you.” 

Red scoffs. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Josh says, answering whatever he’s picked up from that. “But maybe she’ll choose to believe you. That’s what matters. You’re supposed to get your mom flowers.”

“They’re not even flowers,” Red argues. “They’re just fancy leaves.” 

Vas didn’t know that. Now that he looks though, the red part he’s always thought was a flower does look a lot like the leaves. “They’re still nice,” he points out. Red shrugs, so Vas nudges Josh. When Josh looks at him, he hitches his chin at Red’s phone, so Josh gets the idea. 

“Suzy Q headed out here today?” Josh asks, looking awkward about it. Vas feels him on that. Asking Red personal questions doesn’t always end well, especially on this subject. Josh hadn’t handled it well when all that went down. Well, neither did Vas, but that was more about him drawing some conclusions from the situation that he still thinks were perfectly logical, no matter what Josh said about them later.

Here and now, Red nods. 

This is non-verbal, even for Red. 

But while Vas thinks of something that might be comforting, Josh goes with what is obviously the first thought that pops into his head. “So do we got to do Hannukah stuff? ‘Cause I don’t know anything about it.”

“Because I do?” Red asks. “He went home early for all of that.”

“He did?” Even Vas had noticed Teddy was gone, and he rolls his eyes at Josh. “What, dude, come on, I barely know where you are half the time, I can’t be expected to know where your boyfriend is.” 

That’s fair; keeping track of Red is about as easy as keeping track of a cat. He tends to just pop up whenever he feels like it. Josh always seems to have something like a sixth sense for him, but Vas sure as hell doesn’t. 

Josh puts an arm around Vas’s shoulders, which Vas has learned means he’s about to be used as a leaning post, so he plants his feet a bit more in the snow, taking Josh’s weight. He’s warm, anyway. “So, no Hannukah stuff. Gotcha. When’s he getting here?” 

“Soon.”

“Well, Goody and Billy have taken over my damn house, so we’ll keep you company.” Vas doesn’t know about that. It’s too damn cold to be standing out here for long. But he knows how Billy gets when he cooks, and he doesn’t want to go in there either, so he sits with Josh, two steps above Red. 

He hopes Molly likes the flowers. They really do like nice on the porch. 

His phone goes off, so he checks it, already knowing what it is; another text from one of his sisters. It’s Lupe this time, telling him everyone misses him, followed by three pictures in a row. One of the tree, decorated within an inch of its life, a stack of presents under it, one of the kitchen counter, full of baking supplies, and then a selfie of Lupe and Angie, Angie trying to shove Lupe away. Laughing to himself, he shows it to Josh. 

“A dollar says Angie hits her when your mom ain’t looking,” Josh says. 

“That’s not a fair bet,” Vas says. “That was going to happen no matter what.” He had never been allowed to hit his sisters growing up, at least not where anyone would find out, but that had never stopped them, especially the younger girls, from going at it. Fuck, growing up with them had taught Vas that girls fought dirtier than boys ever would. 

Looking at the pictures does make him miss his mom and his aunts’ baking though. He’s not likely to find a Mexican bakery around here, and while he can cook fine, he’s never mastered baking. For whatever reason, he can never get it right. It didn’t help that his grandmothers’ versions of instructions were more about feelings than about actual measurements. 

Maybe he can get Lupe to save him some stuff. He texts her, asking, and she sends back a _on it_. She’s his favorite for a reason. 

“You think we could make churros?” he asks out loud. Anyone can make churros. 

“I guess?” Josh says. “If you want to. And we can get in the kitchen without pissing off Billy.” 

“Good luck,” Red mutters. He taps his phone against his knee, and Josh leans over and snatches it out of his hand. 

“I’m doing this for your own good,” he tells Red, leaning back and holding it out of Red’s reach. “Calm the fuck down, dude. You’re making me nervous. And I don’t even care about Suzy Q.” 

Red mumbles something, but doesn’t try and grab the phone, so maybe he agrees. Or he just doesn’t feel like fighting with Josh on the porch steps. Not that that usually stops them.

“Where’s your dad?” Vas asks, nudging Red in the shoulder with his knee. He hasn’t talked to Joe much, but so far Vas likes him. 

“Sleeping. New meds take it out of him.” 

Vas wants to ask what’s wrong with Joe, exactly, or what was wrong with him, but he thinks it has something to do with Denali and Blackstone, so he doesn’t. Josh has never told him any details about what happened there, exactly, but Vas has been able to pick up on some of it. Whatever it was, was bad, and bringing it up inevitably pisses off Red and Josh both. 

He’s not looking to do that at any point in time, much less during Christmas.

The neighborhood is quiet, this time of day. Kids must be still in school, because there aren’t any running around, which is what Vas would expect, with this much snow on the ground already. Too much snow, for his taste. He wouldn’t move back to Texas, but he’s not a fan of winter up here. But this is where Josh is from, and where his own mom is, so here he stays, he guesses. He doesn’t see Josh wanting to move too far from his mother. 

It’s probably too soon to be thinking about that. Staying with Josh after graduation. Maybe they should talk about that, after the holidays are over, and once spring starts. What they’re both going to do. He knows Josh isn’t going for a doctorate, and Vas doesn’t really want to either, not right away. He wants to start working, and honestly, he’s sick of school at this point. 

After awhile, the front door opens, and Joe comes out to join them, his hair in two long braids and a brimmed hat on. 

“You going to talk to John Wayne about those outlaws on the border, Joe?” Josh jokes, and Red snickers. 

“You both know it ain’t child abuse if I hit you now, don’t you?” Joe asks, sitting in one of the plastic porch chairs. “‘Cause it ain’t.”

“Yeah. It’s assault,” Red says. 

“Boy, you think any cop in this town will arrest me for hitting either one of you?” 

Beside Vas, Josh hisses out through his teeth, and nudges Red. “He makes a good point, there, Red.” Red nods to that. “Should you be out here? Thought you were supposed to be taking it easy in this weather.” 

“I’m not dead yet,” he says. “Besides, wanted to be awake to meet our guest.”

Red doesn’t say anything, but Vas can see his shoulders tense. Seeing Red nervous is really weird. But kind of funny too. 

When an SUV rolls down the road, Red stands up, hands in his pockets. With his back turned, Josh apparently decides to go through Red’s phone, because Josh is just like that. “Why do you know his password?” 

“It’s his middle name with numbers,” Josh explains. “Yours is your mom’s birthday.” 

“Okay, why do you know my password?” 

“I know everyone’s passwords. My mom’s is her lucky numbers, Joe’s is his and Poppy’s anniversary, and Poppy’s is her fingerprint, because she’s paranoid.” 

Behind them, Joe says, “Gee, wonder how she got that way?”

“Institutionalized racism?” Josh suggests. 

“Boy, don’t make me get out of this chair. ‘Smart-ass’ ain’t cute.” 

“Vas thinks I’m cute.”

“That’s because you’re sleeping with him. Why do you think I put up with Poppy’s crazy ass?”

Josh waves his hand at Joe, making a face while Vas laughs. “Gross, I don’t want to hear that.” 

There’s no reason for Vas to join in, but he likes sitting back and watching Josh and Joe squabble. Josh can be friendly, but he’s never really comfortable with a lot of people. Here, he is, and Vas can feel it. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Red helping Teddy grab his bag out of the SUV before it leaves. Knowing how Red is, Vas deliberately keeps his attention on Josh and Joe while they say hello to each other. He wouldn’t exactly want an audience if he was in the same position either. 

“Fuck, this is still so weird,” Josh comments. “Are we going to have to start inviting Emma Cullen for shit?”

“You and her were yelling at the hockey game last week,” Vas reminds him. 

“That don’t count,” Josh says. “Hockey is the great equalizer of men. Right, Joe?” 

“Sure is,” he agrees, completely sincere, and Vas rolls his eyes. “Who’s Emma Cullen?”

Before Josh can say anything, Vas answers. “She’s another grad student. Bio department. She’s Teddy’s best friend.” Joe nods along to that, watching Red and Teddy make their way to the porch. “You’ll like Teddy. He’s hard to not like. Even Josh likes him.”

“I never said that,” Josh says. 

Red’s heard that; so has Teddy. But whereas Red looks pissed off, Teddy just has the same mild expression he usually has whenever Josh insults him. “Good to see you, too, Faraday,” he says. “Hey, Vas.” 

They’re in the way, so Vas tugs Josh up to his feet. 

“Hold on,” Red says to his dad, and leads Teddy inside, to put the stuff away. 

They’re only gone for a minute, but really, Vas is surprised at how much better he feels with Teddy here. The two of them aren’t close at all, but having someone else that’s new here is a relief. He at least won’t be alone in not knowing what people are talking about. 

When the two come back out, Joe holds out a hand for Teddy to shake. “Would love to say I’ve heard all about you,” he tells Teddy. 

“If you had, I’d ask you what drugs you used on him,” Teddy replies. 

“I’m not that bad,” Red says, hooking a hand around Teddy’s waist. 

“Baby, I had to steal your driver’s license to find out your birthday.” 

“I still don’t know it,” Vas says. He’s never had a reason to know it, but it’s still weird that he doesn’t at this point. “You got a ride up here?” 

Teddy nods. “One of the guys from my department lives a neighborhood over from me. He and his friends are going snowboarding.” He shrugs. “Honestly, I would have hitched a ride with a trucker if it got me out of my parents’ house. My dad is talking nonstop about his next trip to Roswell, and my mom and Emma’s mom are back on their vegan thing.” 

“Roswell?” Josh asks, when Vas doesn’t, trying not to be rude. “What, your dad believes in aliens?”

“Oh, he does. But he doesn’t think that’s what happened at Roswell.” He rolls his eyes towards the sky, and huffs. “Please don’t make me go into it, I’ve had to listen to all of this ever since I got home, and honestly, after awhile, he starts making sense. That’s how they get you.” 

Josh is laughing, despite Vas elbowing him. “No, you got to let me have this, Vas, his dad is a nutjob, this is great.”

“It’s fine,” Teddy says, his hands in his back pockets. “He is.” 

“He shouldn’t say it,” Vas insists. Teddy’s Red’s boyfriend, and whether or not they’re friends with him, they have to be polite. At least to his face. “I’m sure your dad is...nice.” 

Teddy frowns down at him. “My parents are both lawyers. I don’t think anyone’s ever described either of them as ‘nice’. Or should. My dad’s crazy, right until you put a case in front of him. He made the CFO of an oil company cry once. In a courtroom.”

From his seat, Joe’s laughing now. “I don’t know your dad, but I think I like him.” 

“Hell, I think I like your dad,” Josh says. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you such a wuss?” Before Vas can elbow him, Josh dodges, ducking around Vas to his other side, securing an arm around Vas’ waist and grinning at him. “Don’t be like that, babe, Teddy knows I’m joking.” 

“Mostly, I just ignore him,” Teddy says. 

Considering that just seems to make Josh more determined to wind Teddy up, Vas isn’t sure that’s the best idea, but Josh is right; Teddy really doesn’t seem to care much about what Josh says to him.

By the time Molly and Poppy get home, it’s safe to go back to Josh’s house, so they’re all sitting on the back porch, Josh and Red having dragged a couple of space heaters out to sit in the corners. 

“A Christmas tree lighting? That’s a real thing?” Teddy is asking. “I thought that was just something they did in Hallmark movies.” 

“It’s stupid,” Red says. 

“I think it’s a lovely tradition,” Goody says, talking over Red before he even finishes. “The Girl Scouts pass out hot chocolate -”

“VFW passes out Kahlua,” Billy adds, getting shushed by Goody. 

“- It’s _nice_ ,” Goody insists. “Santa Claus is there, even. And I enjoy going.”

And since Goody is going, that means Billy will. Vas thinks that’ll be it, but then Teddy says, “I kind of want to go. I’ve never been to anything like that.” Without looking down at Red from where he’s sitting on the arm of Red’s chair, he adds, “No, you don’t have to go with me.” 

“I’ll go,” Red says.

If all four of them are going...Vas doesn’t want to push, not if Josh really doesn’t want to go, but it does sound kind of fun, and Christmas-y. A low-key holiday is fine, but Vas would still like to do some things. Even if it is fucking cold out. 

He gets up to get himself some more coffee, the space heaters not enough to keep his hands warm. Josh follows him, leaning against the counter while Vas adds sugar to his coffee. “You want to go to this?” he asks Vas. “It’s kind of lame, but not that lame. Our parents used to take Red and me.” 

“I don’t want to make you go, Josh,” Vas replies lightly. He does want to, but this is Josh’s house, and when Vas agreed to come, he knew he was agreeing to do Christmas Josh’s way. 

He’s surprised at the face Josh makes. “Vas, I’m cool with going.”

“You don’t like that kind of thing,” Vas says. 

“No, but I like you,” Josh says, reaching out across the small space and hooking two fingers in Vas’ front pocket. “And it ain’t all that lame. Kids are usually having a good time. Got to be, Santa’s there.” 

“I don’t think _you_ spent a lot of time on the ‘nice’ list,” Vas says. 

“No, never made it once,” Josh agrees, smiling. “But be honest with yourself, Vas, if I was any other way you wouldn’t love me.” 

He’s only joking, but it’s probably true. There’s always just been something about Josh, since the day Vas met him. He couldn’t even pinpoint it, just knew that he’d rather be around Josh than anyone else. Had gone out of his way to be around Josh. Fuck, he’d agreed to share a house with Josh, knowing damn well that meant Red too, and that was back when he still thought Red might be planning to kill him. 

He’d agreed to things he knew were a bad idea too; sleeping with Josh, a friends-with-benefits situation Vas had known was going to lead to trouble eventually. Which it had, but it had led to this too, and this is where Vas wants to be. 

And he wants to go to the Christmas tree lighting. “Is your mom going to want to go to this?” Maybe if she spends some time with them together, she’ll start to relax around Vas a little more. 

That’s about right when they hear the car on the gravel. “Let’s see how she feels. Work ain’t exactly fun this time of year.” Vas can’t see how it could be. Just getting the grading done before they’d left school had worn him out, and that wasn’t as important as people’s paychecks. “Poppy might want to, but depends on how Joe’s feeling.” 

The front door opens, Molly coming in with Poppy right behind her, Poppy chattering about something involving the car. “- the transmission is what’s doing that. We need to start taking the truck before that thing finally goes out and trashes the damn car.” 

“Truck needs new inspection stickers in February, and you know damn well it’s not going to pass,” Molly says, throwing her coat over the back of the couch. “Only reason it did last time was because John did the inspection.”

“His daughter’s doing them now, she won’t fail me.” Poppy puts her coat beside Molly’s, looking up and noticing them. “Josh, did you get me flowers? And don’t say Red did, I’ll know you’re lying, he’s got that thing about poinsettias.”

“Vas got them, Auntie,” Josh says. 

“He did?” She looks at Vas now, frowning. “Oh. Thanks, kid. I love those things.” While Molly goes back to her bedroom, to change out of her work clothes, Vas guesses, Poppy sits herself up on one of the barstools. Figuring she had an early start, Vas pours her a cup of coffee, setting the creamer out for her, the same way he would for his own mom. 

Poppy gets her coffee the way she likes it, passing the creamer back to him so he can put it in the fridge, then sort of looks at him. Uncomfortable, Vas hopes Josh will say something, but Josh is back in the doorway to the porch, saying something to Goody, sounds like. 

“So,” she says to him, after she’s downed half the mug in one gulp. “Vas. That’s short for something, right?”

“Vasquez,” he answers. “My last name. My first name is Guillermo. Vas is just easier for everyone.” He’s pretty sure he already told her this, but he can’t blame her for forgetting. “Most people, they can’t say Guillermo quite right if they didn’t grow up saying it. And I like Vas better anyway.” Not that he’s ever telling his mother that. But Guillermo has always felt like more of a ‘home’ name, and ‘Vas’ feels more comfortable for who he is outside of home. 

She nods. “I get that. ‘Poppy’ is a shortening of mine. Tradition is great and all, but it’s why I gave Red Harvest one he could shorten if he wanted. Sometimes, it’s just not worth it. Besides, how else is his ass supposed to know I’m actually mad?” 

It really doesn’t require any reply, but Vas says, “Speaking of, Teddy Q is here.”

“God, people _actually_ call him that?” she asks, lowering her voice. He nods, and she rolls her eyes. “You know what, I don’t even care. He has a boyfriend. A real, live boyfriend. That kid has put me through so much, you don’t even know. Him and Josh both, I swear. I mean, you weren’t really a surprise. Josh is an ass, -”

From the door, Josh says, “I heard that, Auntie.”

“If I cared, I would have said it quieter,” she shoots back. “But he grew up good-looking, thank God, and he’s charming, if you squint.”

“Really feeling the love here,” Josh says. 

“Am I looking at you? No, I’m not, so I’m not talking to you. Mind your business.” Vas has to grin at the face Josh makes; somewhere between clearly wanting to argue, but almost sheepish, like a little kid. Either way, he keeps quiet, but he looks at Vas and sort of smiles and shrugs, turning back to keep listening to whatever someone else is saying to him. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Poppy mutters. “Anyway, you know what I mean. I hope you do, at least.”

He does. Josh is a lot; too loud sometimes, and too reckless at pretty much every point, but Vas likes it. Loves it, even. “I get him,” Vas says, knowing Josh can still hear them both. 

“I figured someone would, eventually,” Poppy says. “Red, on the other hand. I love my kid, don’t get me wrong. I was just getting worried no one else would give him a chance.” 

And Vas gets that, too. Red’s a good person, underneath the stand-offishness and borderline pathological need to fuck with people, but he takes getting used to. At least for Vas. “I think you’ll like Teddy,” he says. “He gets Red.” They are a weird couple, but that might just be because they’re both kind of weird people. 

“Well, Joe seemed to like him,” she says, getting her phone out of her back pocket and setting it on the counter. “But Joe’s on drugs, so what does he know?”

“Joe knows everything,” Josh interjects cheerfully, wrapping his arms around Vas from behind and resting his head against Vas’ shoulder. It’s good to lean back against him, have him there, even if they just barely both fit like this in the little kitchen. The ceiling is already uncomfortably close to Vas’ head. “Joe’s my favorite parent,” he hisses to Vas. 

“That’s ‘cause Joe’s an enabler,” Poppy says, pointing at Josh when Josh makes a theatrically offended noise, his breath warm against Vas’ neck. “Oh, don’t you think for one minute that Molly and me don’t know about all the shit Joe let you and Red get away with when you were kids. Like that thing with the church?”

Vas can feel how Josh stiffens. He thinks Josh might even be hiding behind him a little. “You know about that?”

“Who eggs a church?” Poppy demands, Vas laughing. 

“That one was Red’s idea,” Josh insists. 

“What was Red’s idea?” Molly’s back, changed into jeans and black tee shirt, with a green flannel thrown on over. “I swear to God, Josh, if you two somehow managed to already commit property damage since you’ve been here, I’m going to kill you. I’m too old for this shit.” 

Poppy waves a hand. “Talking about that thing with the Methodist church.”

Sighing, Molly gathers all her hair up on top of her head with a scrunchie. “Oh. Alright, that one was kind of funny. And you didn’t get caught by anyone but the pastor that time. Or minister. Whatever they call themselves. Like a life ban means anything to us. We’re Baptists.” 

“We are? Since when?” Josh comes out from behind Vas a little now, mostly so he can get into the container of sugar cookies sitting out. Goody must have made them earlier. 

“I don’t know, kid, it’s just something you say.” Molly sits down beside Poppy, grabbing a cookie too. She looks at Poppy, and some kind of silent conversation goes on for a minute, then she asks, “Your family religious, Vas?”

That’s a complicated question. “Not exactly, but kind of? We’re technically Catholic, but it’s more a cultural thing.” If Vas is honest with himself, he leans more towards atheist than anything else, but going to church is just something they do in his family. He’s not even sure how much his mother really believes, but the church has always been in their lives. “We have christenings, confirmations, we go to mass, all that. But it’s really more just tradition, at least for me.” 

Molly looks a little surprised, but not in a bad way. “I thought maybe it was more. Because of your -” she touches her own neck, and by reflex, Vas touches his medallion. 

“Oh, no,” he says, understanding the question now. “This isn’t a saint’s medal.” WIth both hands, he undoes the hook and holds it out so Molly can get a closer look. “It was my father’s. When he was a boy, and he still lived in Mexico, he found it. My grandfather, his father, owned a ranch. My father found that out at the edge of the property one day. Said it always brought him good luck.” His father had worn it every day that Vas could remember, at least. “When my father passed away, my mother gave it to me.” And now Vas has worn it every day since. He doesn’t think he really believes in luck, but he likes having it, a piece of his father and their history. 

That had been a big thing for his father; always remembering where he had come from, and how far.

She hands it back to him, and he puts it back around his neck, letting Josh help him get the clasp. 

“Thanks for the flowers, Vas,” she says, smiling a little. “Something nice to come home to.” 

It’s something. Vas will take it.


End file.
